It wasn't until after the show that I realized why that man was part of the Roadblock. I kept wondering why he kept getting on the platform. I thought maybe he was there to check what they were doing. I had no idea at the time that he was supposed to be the "cleaning man in Japan".

Rachel was pretty smart to think ahead about the final task and remembered other TARs which she had seen and realized it probably would be some kind or rememberance task. She did the task in pretty short order and got most of it right on the first try. TK has to be thankful for her, she saved their butts

"I can't speak for production, but I really like that people see us when we're traveling around the world. If you're a fan of the show, ... you're going to be more excited because you want to see what happens." --Phil Keoghan

My CBS affiliate went late with a Patriots pregame show thus extending the CBS lineup by 15 minutes. This means I don't have the ending of last night's show!!!!!! Why? Why? Jerks! Jackasses!!!!! I'm going to drive over to WPRI-TV in Providence and set their building on fire!!!!!!!

Had 5 minutes or so to spare this afternoon, so I got to working out a non-trial-and-error method to solving the Roadblock puzzle, of course neglecting crazy stress, the rule about pencils and a bad memory...

The rules are:1 item from each leg,1 U-Turn,1 mode of transportation involving sticks,2 items brought to or found at the Pit Stop,2 modes of transportation with wheels, one of which was used at a Detour and3 animals or animal by-products

1. The first thing to do, as each team did, is to put up the U-Turn.2. Next are the legs that have no alternative option (Sudoku!): the Pole Vault, the Camel Milk, the Stilts, the Blackberry and the Teacup.3. Hmm, we have both the pole vault and the stilts, but only one stick-transport is needed. That means the bicycle (which we left out of consideration earlier) would have to replace one of them. Now there was a bike in Leg 2 but not Leg 5, so the stilts (Leg 5) remain and the pole vault is replaced with the bicycle (Leg 2).

4. Only two Pit Stop items in the list, and that's the chicken (4) and the musket (6).5. Since Leg 4 is filled up, the U-Turn belongs in Leg 8, eliminating the propane tank cart.6. With the propane eliminated, there remain only two modes of transportation with wheels: the bicycle for Leg 2 we have already selected, along with the tandem bike for Leg 1.

neobie, that is a brilliant analysis. For Rachel, Christina and Nicholas it would have been incredibly stressful and hard to keep the order of the logic clear. They would have tended to solve individual rules, but not look at the necessary order of the elimination or inclusion process. I am not surprised that it took them all well over one hour to solve.

My hats are off to Bertram van Munster and Elise Doganieri. This is what the Amazing Race promised with AR1, episode 1("The Smoke that Thunders") but seldom has been since. A difficult but relevant puzzle about the objects encountered in AR12 was a master stroke, equal to AR8's map challenge.

But lets keep one thing straight: it is not a TEACUP, rather it is a Chinese SOUPBOWL. Chris never called it a teacup when Ron and she arrived at the teahouse, she just said "its hot"

So in order to reach the THREE animals or animal products it must contain something like Chicken or Beef broth!

Was there anything in the rules saying that one item couldn't satisfy multiple category requirements - if so then the chicken could be an animal in addition to a Pit Stop accessory (along with the cleaning man and camel milk). I think the tea was there to fill the every leg requirement, along with the Blackberry.

That was the Best. Roadblock. Evah! And the very best last task to complete the race. When we saw this at Stitch on Sunday, everyone was commenting how the task was challenging and hard and would bunch the teams together. It served its purpose and also forced the teams to give really go back and think about their previous tasks and countries.

If you saw the webclips on CBS.com, you will have noticed Rachel jotting things into her notebook while drinking beer at the Taipei International Airport. And she had a feeling the last task would involve something similar to what we saw on Sunday. Her notes definitely helped her out. The moral of the story, always remember what you did because you may be asked at the end to recall your steps. Great stuff and it will be hard to equal this in future years.

Was there anything in the rules saying that one item couldn't satisfy multiple category requirements - if so then the chicken could be an animal in addition to a Pit Stop accessory (along with the cleaning man and camel milk). I think the tea was there to fill the every leg requirement, along with the Blackberry.

I'm pretty sure Phil said there was only 1 solution for the box to open. Don't remember how he worded it but he said there were several combinations but only one was right.